So the servers are still in maintenance mode, but today is the day that SWTOR goes free-to-play. If you weren't planning on it, it's definitely worth checking out just for going through one of the stories. Even if it's an MMO, you can play through all of that content solo.

Eh, downloaded this last night; let it patch during the day. Logged in, saw 3/10 races are free, quit.

They really need to take a lesson from DCU. They use a similar model of 'FTP' but they don't have massive chunks of content locked out unless you pay $13-15 a month. And the benefits they offer from a $5 investment are far, far greater. EA just doesn't know what 'FTP' means. ~_~

Also; 5 PVP games per week for free players...l-o-flipping-l. Like that'll last.

While the game might be good I doubt the marketing guys are saying the same thing at this point...

The game just wasn't ready for primetime. They've spent the past year primarily fixing various issues rather than creating lots of new content, and quite frankly, you aren't going to retain your userbase if you aren't actively updating. They sold us on the game by pushing story as the "fourth pillar" of MMOs, and they have failed to release any more chapters for each class since that time, or even hint at more story content.

It was a great ride when I played, but I unsubscribed without a second thought when it was several months in and nothing having been added beyond an operation and a flashpoint. Take the story away and you have a WoW-wannabe that isn't as good.

It was okay but I only played for 5 months or so. I agree that they didn't support it with content or events of any kind and when they did(sort of), it was too little too late. GW2 is the only game in town now.. and WoW of course. Still waiting for FFXIV to show it's hand..again.

I don't get that article. It's title says it isn't worth my time to play the game for free, yet the text says that pretty much all the game's best features are on display when you play the game for free.

The restrictions for free players doesn't seem that bad, honestly, aside from restricting wearing certain equipment, which just seems kinda dumb to me. If they wanted to do that, they should've restricted the content that drops said gear. It's nice that I'm allowed to play the majority of the game though.

Also they made the fact that you only get two action bars was a huge issues. At least with the classes Ive played, looking up builds, most only required about two, and on WoW most of mine only needed two. It seems you need more moves in KOTOR for PVP than PVE. Then again im not the best player :P

« Last Edit: November 17, 2012, 11:47:12 PM by Serene Prophet »

Logged

-Give a man a fire, and hes warm for a day. Light a man on fire, and hes warm for the rest of his life.-

The restrictions for free players doesn't seem that bad, honestly, aside from restricting wearing certain equipment, which just seems kinda dumb to me. If they wanted to do that, they should've restricted the content that drops said gear. It's nice that I'm allowed to play the majority of the game though.

For an MMO; they're horrific.

Dungeon and PvP instances per week: Rubbish. Heaven forbid I actually want to socialize on an MMO by participating in Group Activities more than 4 hours in an entire week. You know...like every other FTP MMO out there. Not even Nexon or PWI are so stingy as to go 'Yeah...pay money for PvP please.' (And those are some of the 'worst' cash shop systems I've seen.)

Sprint, Mount, and Revive Restrictions: Rubbish. Say I want to get into the game with a friend who subscribes. They make a Level 1 alongside mine so we can play together. The game is going to suck for them because they're having to do so much waiting both due to my crappier travel time, later mount acquisition, and if I die too often it'll take longer to get back to the area of importance. Heck even 'slow to change in the QoL department' Blizzard finally realized 'Hey; escorting a mountless character sucks. Here; have a two-seater.'

Cannot Equip Highest Tier Items without paying Real Money: Absolutely positively 'What the #*$(#)@# were you thinking!?'. This is what we call a 'pay to win' game. Which is also called one of the fastest ways to kill your MMO. Free players literally cannot have higher stats than the paying players. Not even Korean MMOs are making that mistake very often these days and they used to be the prime point example of the 'grind for years or pay $20 to win everything' micro-transactions. _____________

I could nitpick a few of the other FTP restrictions but those three alone are pretty much high tier cardinal sins in their own right. Now keep in mind; I'm not saying people don't have the right or can't enjoy the game as though it were KOTR III. But this is an MMO; you don't try to run it as such and gut the very reasons people play MMOs to begin with. They're going to have to make some serious changes to make me even consider trying this out F2P. I might try a subscription is money ever falls into my lap but I don't see that happening until well after Christmas. XP

I get what you're saying, but the alternative would've been for them to restrict the story content, which was the main selling point of the game. I'm pretty sure that's even worse.

Nah, that's pretty much Turbine's bread and butter when it comes to Lord of the Rings Online: pay a little money every ten levels or so to access new content. It certainly makes more sense to charge for a entire zone than it does to charge for the privilege to equip gear.